Paul Nelson suggested three references that imply calculations of
CSI, two by Siegfried Scherer and one by Peter Rust. None of these
references is easily obtained by me. I tried the George Washington
University library for the first reference but they did not have
issues of the journal that far back.
However, I did find some information about Siegfried Scherer's ideas.
I am appending some quotes at the end of this post.
My reason for including them is that Scherer does not seem to be
saying that he can demonstrate CSI. Rather, he seems to be saying
that he has doubts that the theory of evolution can explain the
emergence of complex life forms. He may be right or he may be wrong.
I do not know much about molecular biology but I can see problems
trying to verify his ideas. But he is not saying that he has
"eliminated" Darwin's theory of evolution as an explanation for life
as we know it, and, hence, that he can demonstrate Dembski's CSI.
Ivar
---------------
There is a chapter in Dembski's Mere Creation by Siegfried Scherer.
In it, he states his criterion for "basic types": "Two individuals
belong to the same basic type if they are able to hybridize" (page
197). Microevolution is what occurs within a "basic type."
Macroevolution occurs between basic types, i.e., it is descent from
a common ancestor. Scherer goes on to write (page 202):
"It is a major prediction of basic type biology that no molecular
evolutionary mechanisms bridging the gaps between basic types will
be found. Since we do not know enough on the morphogenetic differences
between different basic types of animals and plants, this prediction
cannot be tested using these organisms. However, at the level of
bacteria, a little more is known. I have discussed possible
delineations of microevolution versus macroevolution at the molecular
level using bacteria as an example (Junker and Scherer 1992; Scherer
1983, 1984, 1995, 1996), but this discussion is outside the scope of
this chapter. My conclusion is that no molecular mechanisms
accountable for macroevolutionary processes are known."
And later in his concluding section (pages 208/9):
"It is now necessary to test the basic type concept with as many
animal and plant groups as possible. The results available so far
(Scherer 1993c) seem to be encouraging. Critical test cases will be
provided by groups that comprise a number of closely related families
or subfamilies, such as Passeriformes. However, further work could
also demonstrate that the basic type criterion submitted here will
not hold up when it is put to test in daily classification work of
practicing taxonomists.
"Basic type biology or something equivalent to this approach will be
a prerequisite to develop a theory of design that also accommodates
the endless number of observations of microevolutionary processes.
If basic type biology turns out to withstand the test of time, it
will provide a framework for interpreting a variety of biological
observations such as gaps between basic types, character distribution
between the species within a basic type, character distribution
between species of different basic types and the interpretation of
seemingly odd features of life."
While I have not seen a copy of Paul's second reference, Scherer's
Entstehung der Photosynthese, ( which, considering my German, is
probably a good thing), there is a description or, better, an
advertisement for it on the Internet
(http://www.wort-und-wissen.de/si/photosyn.html). I haven't used
my German for over 40 years and I was never very good at it.
However, with some help from Langenscheidt's Handworterbuch,
http://www.freetranslation.com/, and
http://babel.altavista.com/translate.dyn, here is a rough translation
of the first web page:
"Emergence of Photosynthesis
"Siegfried Scherer
"Are there bounds to molecular evolution? The author shows by
concrete examples that well-known evolutionary factors have not yet
been able to explain the emergence of new metabolic pathways. The
book also deals with numerous criticisms.
"Topic
"The metabolism of bacteria, plants, and animals is characterized
by an unimaginably complex, multidimensional, interlocking interplay
of unknown numbers of biochemical reactions and macromolecular
structures. At this time, it is unclear how organisms could emerge
through changes in micro-evolutionary processes. The reason,
perhaps, lies in a lack of knowledge about the structure and
morphology of single- and multi-cellular organisms. The range of
micro-evolutionary factors can only be estimated until the molecular
details are sufficiently well known.
"The photosynthetic movements of electrons in oxygen-producing
cyano-bacteria and algae is analyzed in its molecular details.
In this example, the author shows that evolutionary factors cannot
at present explain the emergence of new metabolic pathways."
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